


Everything, and Then Some

by HYPERFocused



Category: Stargate: Atlantis
Genre: Alphabet, Challenge Response, M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-04
Updated: 2009-01-04
Packaged: 2017-11-27 07:45:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HYPERFocused/pseuds/HYPERFocused
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney has much too much time to think.<br/>1000 words exactly</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything, and Then Some

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So, for 2008's Amnesty, I wrote [Everything](http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/678686.html), which was Haiku for each of SGA_Flashfic's challenges thus far. This year, I toyed with doing the same thing, but couldn't decide between writing haiku for all the subjects, or just the ones new this year. I ultimately decided on something different: one (long!) poem that uses all of the subjects in alphabetical order. Please forgive the indulgence. Chellenge titles are in **bold**

**38 Minutes** , Rodney's favorite and least appreciated  
not quite random amount of time  
is 2, 279 seconds longer than he needs  
to imagine  
 **7 Deadly Sins** he would gladly commit for John.  
If it would help him avoid **Abandonment.**  
With every Pegasus Princess, or Priestess  
He gives John **amnesty** , reminds himself it was **Ancient History** ,  
John's last time with a woman,  
and John's his now.  
Tamp down his **Animal** instinct  
to leave marks with sharp words  
or the press of clipped-short nails.

Sometimes it's enough to play  
 **Animal Vegetable and Mineral**  
or Prime not Prime.  
A **backstory** of games _could_ lead  
to (hopefully not) **Bad Sex**  
If John doesn't punch him **Bloody**.  
Rodney hopes to hell he won't.

He's loved John through **Body Modification**  
(a metamorphosis worse than Kafka imagined,  
something John might read next,  
if he ever finishes his first Russian novel.)

He's loved John when each or both  
were **burning up** with fever  
meeting (possibly un)friendly natives  
with **Cake or Death**  
barely avoided. (Sometimes the cake _is_ death.  
 **City Exploration** can be a risky business,)

 **Comfort** is sure to follow later,  
when the **Criminal** is apprehended,  
or the **Culture Clash** over.  
When his or John's or Ronon or Teyla's bruised arm  
is no longer **Dangling** from a cold stone wall,  
or worse, a slimy Wraith construction.  
The anticipation is -- almost-- worth it.

It's weird, but Rodney likes  
that they both have a **Dark Side**  
and know how to lift it from each other.  
and can lie together on sleepless nights  
with the **Darkness** no longer a foe.

 **Dating** the Colonel has its perks, like  
 **Debriefing** in a hurry to get to the de'brief'ing  
(they can both laugh at stupid puns,  
though of course Rodney's are much more clever)  
 **Documentation** would prove this,  
if anyone truly read John's reports.

If a **Doppelganger** ever did replace John  
(outside of dreams or nightmares)  
Rodney wouldn't need **ESP**.  
He'd just kick the imposter **Earthside** (or elsewhere)  
or lock him in one of Atlantis's **Enclosed Spaces**  
until **Exhaustion** hit, and the fake John gave up.  
Rodney's not above **fucking freezing** his competition out.

Atlantis can be more freakshow than **Fairy Tale** ,  
but John, and his team are the kind of **Family**  
Rodney never knew he needed,  
and relies on how  
in **Fight or Flight** and the inevitable  
 **First Aid.**

 **First Contact** with John,  
 **that First Night** when Major Sheppard  
lit the chair, and powered Rodney's dreams,  
just added **Five Things** , or a million  
he didn't dare admit he felt.

 **Folklore and Superstitions** have nothing  
on the **Gods and Monsters** and **Halloween** Hell  
of life in the Pegasus Galaxy,  
But learning John wants him, too  
is right out of a **Harlequin**.

Rodney takes John to Canada,  
where he reads Madison **Kidfic**  
and refuses to be **Left Behind**  
in any silly game a six year old might play.  
 **Masks and Masquerades** bring a lightness to John's eyes (through the slits)  
that leading so many **Men and Machines,**  
searching for **Missing Persons**  
and the necessarily carefully-worded **Mission Reports**  
that follow, take away.

When things go well,  
so rare that Rodney thinks  
he **Must Be Dreaming** ,  
and John laughs "Har har har,  
we're **Not Dead Yet** ,"  
just before he kisses Rodney.  
Rodney becomes sure this is **Not Happening**.  
He's going to wake up in school in his underwear  
or turned into a robot, or otherwise **Not Human** ,  
because his life has never been this good,  
so why should it start now?

Eventually, Rodney realizes,  
despite the Johnny Cash poster,  
or Evel Kneivel,  
that John's most **Personal Item**  
is his heart.

It's revealed slowly, though missions and games and **Phone Calls**  
when they're stuck on Earth.  
It makes Rodney want to **Post Secret** 'I love you' messages  
on Atlantis's Intranet. (typed in code unbreakable by anyone but John)  
but he hits delete on his keyboard before he can press the **return** key.

Usually, John's the one who comes running,  
and Rodney's the one in physical trouble,  
but sometimes there's a **Role Reversal**  
and Rodney ends up with the **Scars**  
for rescuing John.  
He never learned these skills in **School** ,  
but instead through trial and too much error.  
Every **Search and Seizure** taught him  
what not to do, and why.

If he proves to br lucky enough  
to be granted a **Second Verse** ,  
a second chance, another second with John by his side,  
he won't need a **Secret Superpower**  
He won't be tempted by **Sex Drugs and Rock &Roll**  
He won't fear **Sharks** or **Sickness**  
or even flirtatious semi-Ancients in flowing **Skirts.**

Through every experience  
(even those stranger than Sci-Fi 's pulpiest **slave-fic** )  
John's feelings never change.

It's the same old **Song and Dance**.  
Typical **Stories About Buildings and Food**  
or **Strange New Worlds and Alien Geographies**  
never seem to phase him.  
"I'm still **Stuck On You** ," John tells him.

The reality of this,  
unlikely as it sounds,  
feels nearly **Supernatural**  
something maybe Teyla would dream,  
and retell them all as a story,  
fraught with hidden meaning.

Rodney's happiness with John  
is an unexpected thrill.  
He'd sooner imagine life in another galaxy,  
except that turned real, too.

It's like **Swimming** for miles without fear of drowning  
like always being picked first for a team.  
Loving John, and being loved back  
feels like a **Vacation** that doesn't end in horror and drunken recrimination.  
No **Villains** , or sunburn, no screaming brats can touch them  
 **Virgin** Airlines or borrowed Puddlejumper,  
it all says 'love' to Rodney.

Yes, 38 minutes is way too long to think  
of death and sin and how they've come too close to both.  
He longs for such a break now,  
an escape from his fears.  
Watching Carson revive John feels too intimate  
like a sick kind of **Voyeurism** ,  
different than just sitting bedside,  
after the horror is over.  
There are too damn many **Ways To Die**.  
even more than they've managed to barely avoid thus far,  
and the thought of any one of them  
truly happening to anyone he loves,  
(happening to John, that is,)  
leaves Rodney **Wordless**.


End file.
